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Hayden plucked at the strings of his Cherry Red Fender Starcaster. "Is this really for me? I get to keep it?" Echelon nodded at him, "It's all yours. I know you had trouble with the other instruments you tried, so I thought you should be able to have something special to call your own." Echo patted him proudly on the head, "Are you going to her a name?" Hayden strummed a long clear 'G' chord. "Maggie," He whispered. She transitioned smoothly to an 'A' and sang happily to him. Echo smiled and locked his fingers. "Are you nervous? I'm sorry I can't be at your first public performance, but I can't back out of my own gig." Hayden shook his head, "I'll be alright! With my new lucky charm, nothing'll go wrong." He set Maggie gently to the side, jumped on to Echelon's lap, and gave him a hug. "Thank you so much, Daddy!" Echo smiled and hugged him back. "You'll do great. I know it." Hayden looked over to the corner where Lupus sat, "Are you gonna come, Dad?" Lupus glanced up, but shook his head and went back to dragging his claws along the floor. Hayden's heart sank a little, neither of his parents would be there to support him. He turned to the other corner where is big brother sat. "You'll come. Won't you, Ashey?"

Hayden smiled at his big brother, oblivious to the shadows that tried to hide Ashen. This is gonna be great! Maybe they can all come next time...but at least Ashen is gonna be there. Echelon took him under one arm and Maggie in the other. "Come on, we've gotta get you ready for the stage!" Hayden giggled as his daddy carried him up the stairs. As he helped him brush is hair and pick out a cool outfit, Echo told him a few rules he should follow when on the stage. "Firstly, don't show weakness. Crowds are easily swayed by your appearance. If you walk out a snappy dresser, but are shaking at the knees, they're gonna eat you up." He tapped his nose to show he was playing, but didn't let it take away from how serious he was. "However, if you swag out with nothing but jeans and a raggy shirt, but show nothing other than pure confidence, they will respect you and give you a chance to play and show off your stuff." Echo dug through Hayden's clothes until he found a pair of nice jeans and a torn t-shirt. "More important than all of that, have fun." Echelon sat on the floor and pulled Hayden onto his lap. "More important than pleasing the audience, which you do want to do, is please yourself. Make sure you walk off the stage knowing you did your best and have the most fun possible doing just that. Got it?" Hayden grinned, "Have fun? That's easy! I always have fun!" Echo laughed, thumped him on that back, and gave him a thumbs up. "Have a good show!" Hayden laughed and returned the thumbs up. "Have a good show!" He echoed.

Lupus looked at the ground where four new grooves ruined the floor. Oops... He moved the rug on the floor to cover it, but ended up exposing another part of the flooring that had been abused by his claws. After a few moments of rearranging all the furniture, all his claw marks were well hidden and he decided that he was hungry. He rose to leave the room when he noticed Ashen sitting across the room. He blinked at him. Should I say something...? He cocked his head, He does look kind of like me...I've never seen anything that looks like me before...This one isn't as jumpy as the other, but according to Echo, they both belong to us. Lupus shook the hair from his eyes. Little Echo and Little Lupus...it feels weird...I want to protect them. Both of them, but I don't know how I should interact with them...Should I tell Ashen what I think? Or would it hurt the little guy's feelings...? He started to open his mouth, but closed it and headed into the kitchen. It's strange, I don't want to disappoint either of the little ones. I felt terrible turning Hayden down, and I feel worse for not being able to even talk to Ashen...What would we even begin to talk about? Lupus grabbed a sandwich out of the fridge and ate it without really tasting it. He was too deep in thought.

Echelon left Hayden's room to get ready for his own show and Hayden could feel all of his confidence leave with him. No matter how many times his daddy smiled at him, or patted his head, or said how great he would do, he still didn't feel like a great person. He looked at his reflection the in the tiny mirror that hung on his wall, and pulled the shirt Echo gave him over his head. The reflection said, "Look how awesome I am! We're gonna kill this!" But all he could think was, This shirt is too big for me. And that's how he felt. Like he was trying to fill one of his daddy's shirts, but he was just a kit, too small. Hayden crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. There, that looked more like him. He sighed and headed back downstairs to retrieve Maggie. He plucked a few strings, but she sounded so sad he couldn't continue. Tightening her strap, he slipped Maggie into her bag and slung her on his back. He quietly slipped into the kitchen, pulled a sandwich out the fridge, and was about to leave when he saw Lupus. He was staring with great intensity out the window, watching the sun go down. As the sun shrunk and the sky got darker and darker, creepy black shadows started to gather at his dad's feet. The darkness swelled immensely around him as soon as the sun disappeared. Just before Lupus vanished, a strange smile crept over his lips and he said something, but Hayden didn't quite catch it. He was about to say something, but Lupus suddenly dispersed in a flash of shadows.

"Bye, Dad. Have fun..." He'd never seen him do that before, Hayden really wished he could do that, but he knew running away wouldn't help his confidence problem. Hurrying out the back door, he climbed over the fence and crept into the forest. He liked it back there. No one ever seemed to be there, so it was easier to be alone with just his thoughts. He headed to about the center of the crowd of trees and started climbing the biggest one. Once he reached his favorite branch, the biggest thickest one, he sat back and pulled out Maggie. Then, he took a deep breath and started playing the song he'd been working on. Hayden hadn't told anyone about it, it was his secret. As he played flawlessly, he accidently looked at his watch. One hour till show time. His pick hit the strings wrong and Maggie shouted angrily at him. "Sorry," he whispered. This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.

Hayden cried out in surprise as the world around him turned dark. "Ashen..." He said bitterly. He slouched and plucked a few minor chords as he waited for the shadows to leave. Throwing Maggie once again onto his back, he slid down the tree and sat in front of his brother. Hayden rolled his eyes at his brother's accusations, "As you may have seen, I was practicing in MY tree. I am ready for the show and I was waiting for you." He watched his big brother stomp around. "I don't need to be watched and you couldn't be more obvious about not wanting to come." He grit his teeth, "Would you rather I mope in the corner like you do?! Have you even tried to play anything?! All you do is complain!" Even though he hated getting angry, it felt good letting off a little steam and it helpped to ease his nerves a little bit. "You think it would be better to fight in front of our dads?!" He leapt to his feet, "Can't you see the way they act around each other?! It's as obvious as the fact that you hate me! We were a mistake! They're both trying to make the best of their accident! I'm only trying to help them see we're not such a bad thing! The only problem is you're! Not! Helping!" He turned his back to his now silent older sibling. "Now let's go!" Without waiting, Hayden marched off.

Hayden almost had a conniption as the rock barely missed him and Maggie. He watched Ashen dash ahead, "Whatever you say, 'brother'..." He muttered to himself. He stalled going inside until he saw his Daddy heading downstairs. "Ready to head out?" It was easy to see how proud he was. He patted both of them on the head and hulled his gear out the door. "Come, the stage waits for no one...the audience is even less patient." It was a favorite saying of his, something he always said before he headed out the door to a concert. Hayden made sure Maggie was securely in her bag and hurried after Echelon.

Echelon dropped the two kits off back stage. Hayden watched as Echo drove off, once again taking his confidence with him. He took a deep breath and headed to the backstage entrance. A large man, clad in black, leaned over and asked his business. "I'm the 9 o' clock." This one guy didn't scare him, even if he was 5 times his size. The bodyguard spoke into his radio, a fuzzy answer came, and he opened the door for Hayden. A very short man, hurried out. "There you are, kid!" He spoke rapidly with a cigar hanging out the side of his mouth. Hayden thought, for a moment, he walked into some kind of movie. "Come on, kid! Don't be nervous! I'll show you to your room!" His voice only got louder as he threw an arm over Hayden's shoulders and dragged him inside. "You know, kid, I was the first one to let your daddy on stage! Isn't that neat! So, of course when he called and told me about you, kid, I couldn't say no!" The man continued rambling and jostling Hayden about. All he could think was, Keep walking, don't pass out, don't pass out! The man seemed like he was trying to help, but he was only making it worse. The shoes the man expected Hayden to fill kept getting bigger and bigger, and he feared that he might trip over himself if he kept trying to wear them.
The door closed behind Hayden and the man was gone.

Alone in his changing room, Hayden took Maggie out of her bag and set her on a pretty fur lined guitar stand that sat in the corner. I just need to close my eyes for a few minutes... he told himself, lying down on the only couch in the room. He shoved his palms into his eyes and tried to rub the sudden exaustion that threatened to put him to sleep, but it didn't work. He sat up feeling really old. I'm too young to be doing this...I'm not ready yet... He stood up. That's it! He could tell the guy he wasn't feeling good. Maybe they could put someone else on stage. Hayden's hand clasped the doorknob, but he couldn't bring himself to turn it. I can't...I'd let everyone down. I'd let Daddy down... His hand dropped to his side. Maybe if he meditated or something, just for a few minutes. He turned to go sit down again, and the door flung open. "Stage is ready, kid! Let's go!" Hayden barely had time to grab Maggie before he was being dragged away again. "Good luck, kid!" The man loudly stage whispered and disappeared, leaving him alone in the dark. Hayden's last thought was, I wonder where Ashen is... and the curtains retreaded, leaving him and the stage open to the blinding lights and the staring audience.